steve wilson

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We are excited to have a guest blog post from one of our travelers, Steve Wilson. Steve is taking an amazing trip and is chronicling his adventures on his blog, A Hungry Man Travels. Follow his travels by reading his blog and checking out his photos. Thanks, Steve, for sharing your Indonesia experience with us!

Julia Roberts and I haven’t had the priviledge to meet, but we've been close to each other – inadvertently AND innocently I might add. If I had the chance to meet Ms. Roberts, the first thing I would say is “Hi Julia, did you know that you and I shared a room at the Rimba Orangutan Eco lodge in Borneo?" If that fails to get a reaction (and lets’ face it, it wouldn’t), I would then quickly ask her: "what were you thinking getting so close to that Orangutan in your documentary?" Ok, I wouldn't quite say it like that but I sure would have to wonder what would possess one of the biggest stars on the planet to do something even us nobodies were told over and over by the guides, signs, and locals not to do if you ever meet an orangutan, especially the King of Orangutans, face to face. Ah Julia, the crazy world you live in. I know in your documentary you weren’t giving us your world famous laugh when Kusasi, then the King of Orangutans, grabbed you and held on while the guides had to pry him off you and I don’t blame you – it probably wasn’t a good time for you I’m sure.

We are excited to have a guest blog post from one of our travelers, Steve Wilson. Steve is taking an amazing trip and is chronicling his adventures on his blog, A Hungry Man Travels. Follow his travels by reading his blog and checking out his photos. Thanks, Steve, for sharing your Vietnam experience with us!

The reason why I chose to tour Vietnam wasn’t complicated, despite this post headline. I was fascinated by the country, its people and in particular the food. To me Vietnam just wasn’t going to be your typical tourist destination, and I was looking for that in my travels. Its war-torn history shapes its culture almost as much as the landscape, people, and the cuisine do. It’s impossible to come to this country without thinking about the Vietnam War. There are memorials everywhere. There are also absolutely lush, stunning green fields and tall palm trees – images that have been shown time and again in films about the country and the war. There are gorgeous red soils and tall mountains that straddle the rice fields where people in non las (conical hats) are hard at work. It’s so amazing to look at, yet so hard to take in. It’s akin to looking at a beautiful painting. You see it, you try to ‘get’ it, you even have a guide there to help you understand it, but even she can’t properly explain it. No matter what you do you still feel like something is off or missing - a vital piece of information that would bring more sense to the overall picture. See what I mean by complicated? Then again maybe it’s supposed to be complicated. Believe me after talking to other visiting tourists I was relieved to know I’m not the only who feels this way about Vietnam.